England cricket physio is robbed

Dean Conway (right) was not hurt as a result of the robbery

The England cricket team physiotherapist has been robbed at knife-point in the team's Sydney hotel by a gang of masked thieves.

Dean Conway was in the lobby making a phone call when the group burst in at 0400 local time (1700 GMT) on Monday.

He was forced to hand over his wallet and two mobile phones.

The thieves had previously attempted to gain access to the hotel's safe, but were unsuccessful. An England spokesman said Mr Conway was not injured.

The physio had been sharing drinks in the bar with batsman Andrew Strauss, coaching staff members Matthew Maynard, Kevin Shine and Mark Garaway and head of security Reg Dickason.

The group were celebrating England's series-clinching win over Australia on Sunday night but the other five fled to another room when they saw the thieves break in.

The spokesman said: "Dean just happened to be in their line of sight, knives were produced and threats were made, but thankfully he was not hurt."

The England team and staff left Australia on Monday on two different flights back to the United Kingdom.

Having been whitewashed in the Ashes, England then gained a 2-0 victory over Australia in the finals of the triangular one-day tournament.